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Wednesday, November 22, 2006

FUSED........

On November 21, 2006 Six nations, European Nation, United States, India, China, Japan & South korea signed a historic agreement & committed their support & resources for building a Nuclear Fusion Reactor called ITER (originally termed as International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor). After many years of deliberations and discussions, the Idea has finally taken off.

Though the results of experiment can be verified only after a long duration say 10-15 years, it appears to be one of the most ambitious projects of the scientists around the world. The physicists have long dreamt of inexhaustible source of power and had betted on the fusion tech for the same. Though Britain has been conducting experiments in this field since 1950 and US laboratories also experimenting in this field, the results have not been so encouraging.

The current format of the US $ 12.8 billion ITER is designed in such a way that all the member nations will contribute in kind towards the project. France/EU would be commiting 50% of the resources while the other nations will be contributing about 10% of the total Cost. The Fusion Reactor will be located at South of France at Cadarache.

India is also part of this consortium. India also needs to be part of various International projects so that the benefits of the technological development in these fields and by these projects accrue to India also. India should also have been part of the
International Space station Project, building of Large Hadron colliders etc. India should keep an eye on the technological achievements and the benefits accruing from these researches. India, on its own cannot invest into such huge projects, so it should participate in these projects, as this will help to develop our own indigenous technologies also. India is also member of the Galileo positioning System Posi Project by the European Union and Russian GLONASS which will help in the development and access of GPS tech.

Such ventures though of extreme risk, always aid to development of new tech and progress of the basic sciences and should always be pursued.

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